[Archived] West Ham Fined £5.5m

[philipl]

Sheff U threatening but in reality they are done for.

[thenodrog]

A club spokesman said the agreement was a victory for West Ham: "This settlement, if agreed by the Premier League, should bring to an end to all of the legal issues relating to Carlos Tevez.

That crass statement just about sums it up! Forget the icelanders cos they are just in it for the money. But the rank and file supporters should be hanging their heads in shame. OK there are many hard nosed eastenders amongst them but it surely cannot rest easy with the majority.

[Paul]

Its difficult but its not just yourself who cares - the situation is though what do we do about it and who has the resources and time to challenge it?

Which is the nub of the problem. I suppose the FSF is the body one might look to but I can't see evidence on their site of any involvement. I think the idea of going to watch Sheffield United is brilliant and one I'd happily support, especially if the alternative was missing a Rovers game. Frankly unless there was a mass boycott of West Ham games a few folk staying home only has an impact on those individuals.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Well thanks for that Capt; it's nice to know that I am not completely "p*****g in the wind" as the saying goes. But sometimes it definitely feels like it. As I said in earlier posts I made my decision over 2 years ago, and it has not been easy by any means to apparently turn against the two Football clubs that mean everything to me. The truth is I have NOT turned against the clubs I support (Rovers and Dunfermline) but against the Prem Leaugues of both England and Scotland which I consider to be riddled with corruption and rotten to the core. I will not continue to give up my very limited disposable income to make these crooks any richer. Instead I choose to give it to the likes of Cowdenbeath and East Fife; two stuggling little clubs that each has a very proud history, and deserving of all the support they can get.

No problem Fife.

My situation was made all the easier with the birth of my little boy (all be it 3 yrs ago now) and my Wedding and leading upto it last year.

Funds had to be cut drastically, and the way football has gone made very easy to decide what to do - before meeting my Mrs alot of my money went on following the Rovers.

However, I have also always played since I was a nipper - not to high level but a decent one when I was younger and would like to think that I have always played with integrity, to enjoy the game and try win . The game as I see it nowadays, of which you are aware, to me is mixed with too much business scandal and down right money making advertisement to fleece the fans as much as possible treating them like idiots in the process.

My love for Rovers will never die and I will always have my memories , my love for the present game and all that goes with it , is -which I get the feeling is across the same lines as your good self and many others.

Its a shame really what has happened for Tevez as from what I saw of him last season, he is the type of player worth watching and it must be difficult for the West Ham fans as they just can't turn their backs on their club- would anybody else?

BTW - for those interested - Sheff Utd are scheduled to play at home against Norwich when we play away at the Boleyn Ground

[T4E]

It would be great wouldn't it if every club went to watch Sheff Utd when their team plays at Upton Park. Damn site closer too....

Thats an absolutely superb idea. All fans participating should wear their own teams colours to attract attention to the action. Sign me up.

[DP]

I love this idea too. The great thing about it is each prem club's fans only have to do it once in the whole season.

A web campaign should be started

[Sandiway Blue]

already started with boro

http://www.boroforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/Y...?num=1186354372

[Earlydoors]

Even their name would sit well on a flag wouldn't it ?

BLACKBURN ROVERS

UNITED WITH

SHEFFIELD

?

[OscarRaven]

Caption competition.

For those who have contact with the chairman (brisa, FF, etc...) I would be interested to know the clubs/his opinion on this whole affair.

[CAPT KAYOS]

already started with boro

http://www.boroforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/Y...?num=1186354372

Well done BB - interesting response from the Boro fan but just what I expected re the missing 'your own team' scenario and the underlying difficulty - ie the loyalty to your own team is stronger than what happened to Sheff Utd for most fans.

Might be worth lobbying the Sheff Utd boards and seeing what their response is - but then again Sheff U have never been the most welcoming to most fans.

To me, its a diifficult situation as at the end of the day- they did get relegated when it was in their own hands to do something about it - would they have carried on the same if they had stayed up and Wigan went down?

The animosity should really be levied at the PL/EPL/Under table 3rd leg shakers who support West Ham or whatever it is called these days for not acting properly in the first place.

[philipl]

I see West Ham are adding to their appeal as the Premiership's most cuddly side by tapping up at Derby. Well the Derby board are muttering about tapping up and say they are monitoring the situation.

[philipl]

Sheffield United are starting a law suit against West Ham for £50m damages it has been announced this morning.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Sheffield United are starting a law suit against West Ham for £50m damages it has been announced this morning.

Interesting this Philipl ... what do you reckon they have that they claim against the Cheaters as I can't see how they can?

It wasn't directly Cheaters fault moreso a contribution of the P/L not acting properly and there own inability to win.

[broadsword]

The arbitration panel found West Ham guilty of "dishonesty and deceit" so I would say it is their fault.

Should be interesting ...

[philipl]

This is guess work but I had a gut feeling that the Tevez transfer/loan all got wrapped up so quietly, it fell into the too good to be true category.

As bryan says, West Ham got hit by punishments for some very serious stuff which they accepted and did not appeal against. Sheff U would be debarred by Prem rules from taking legal action as members of the FAPL (that stops Fulham and Wigan shooting for compensation for lost place prize money) but of course, the point of issue is that Sheff U are not in the FAPL so are not blocked.

I would guess Sheff U will focus on the legitimacy of West Ham opting for the course of action that saw them rip up the MSI contract now that the FAPL have indicated that was only one of three options they had and clearly the most risky- the FAPL have said "on your own head be it". I would think that any Court looking at the loading of payments- £2m to Wham from MSI and potentially something like £30m from Man U to MSI- will judge that third party influence continued and that the MSI version of what the contractual situation was is much closer to reality than West Ham's.

The Sheff U plan is probably to force an out of Court settlement in that they could probably rake enough muck and force public disclosure of documents all of Man U, MSI, Wham and FAPL would now rather remain hidden. The risks to West Ham of losing a case like this are enormous- not just the £30m to £50m compensation but things might come out about the current ownership, never mind past owners, that might bring yet more sanctions. The simple act of pre-Court case discovery is probably enough to cause a wobble of nerves at West Ham which will be driving lawyers to talk to lawyers.

West Ham would probably prefer to hand over many millions (but nothing like £50m) in a private out of Court settlement just to shut everyone up for ever and move on. Having lost so many legal cases in the battle, Sheff U could well find that an extremely attractive option.

[philipl]

More on Sheff U's case- claim of new evidence on the Tevez contract cancellation.

Sheff U are making a smart move in inviting West Ham to an FA convened arbitration. West Ham are massively compromised by the original disciplinary commission and even more so by the words of the arbitration ruling even though they avoided a points deduction. The FAPL have neatly pushed West Ham into this particular legal firing line- one which West Ham have at times been eager to accept as they saw it in their benefit in the larger scale of FAPL workings which they benefitted from.

If West Ham accept the arbitration, they are effectively resigning themselves to pay a shed load of cash without any right of appeal- almost no arbitration ever settles uniquely in favour of one side or the other. Half way between 0 and £50m is £25m if the arbitration lands at 50/50.

If West Ham reject an FA moderated arbitration and opt for being sued in the High Court, they are effectively biting the hand of the football authorities that has been so generous to them and putting the English game into the bad books of FIFA who always strongly prefer sporting rather than civil jurisdiction. It would be an enormous gamble for West Ham to reject arbitration and hope that the High Court throw the Sheff U case out as unfounded.

[philipl]

Joorabchian criticises Scudamore for lack of transparency and offers to fund an enquiry. Very interesting to see him going on the offensive when I would have thought it best to have kept quiet. Perhaps he wants his £2m back from West Ham? That would be the most delicious of ironies if the FAPL in creating the pretence that West Ham had rights over Tevez end up having Joorbachian and Sheff U mounting a two-pronged attack.

[philipl]

FIFA move to ban third party ownership of players

[philipl]

This saga looks like it is finally drawing to a close. West Ham and Sheffield United agree to legal arbitration.

This effectively acknowleges that there is a case for West Ham to answer to Sheffield United and also means that it is highly unlikely Sheffield United will walk away empty handed.

However, it is almost certain whatever settlement is reached will be confidential to the parties concerned.

[CAPT KAYOS]

This saga looks like it is finally drawing to a close. West Ham and Sheffield United agree to legal arbitration.

This effectively acknowleges that there is a case for West Ham to answer to Sheffield United and also means that it is highly unlikely Sheffield United will walk away empty handed.

However, it is almost certain whatever settlement is reached will be confidential to the parties concerned.

Almost certain it will also be Financial as well - short of reading back through whta has been said etc , am I missing something... but shouldn't this have been done in the first place?

[philipl]

Not really as West Ham and more to the point the Premier League had to keep up the pretence that everything was OK. Eventually Sheff U got a ruling in August that they could sue West Ham for damages but not the Premier League.

The Court case for the suit was scheduled for next summer so on the basis that the Courts said WHam have a case to answer, the respective lawyers have probably been battering each other over the terms of engagement for the arbitration as one side or the other must have blinked deciding the consequences of losing the full case would be too awful to face and asked for arbitration.

At a guess, the initiative came from the West Ham side when Magnusson lost the Chairmanship there.

West Ham have a major stadium investment they need to get under way and having partners factor in a worst case outcome on a law suit for £30m losses is a significant inconvenience even if you own your own bank as the new West Ham chairman does.

[thenodrog]

Not really as West Ham and more to the point the Premier League had to keep up the pretence that everything was OK. Eventually Sheff U got a ruling in August that they could sue West Ham for damages but not the Premier League.

The Court case for the suit was scheduled for next summer so on the basis that the Courts said WHam have a case to answer, the respective lawyers have probably been battering each other over the terms of engagement for the arbitration as one side or the other must have blinked deciding the consequences of losing the full case would be too awful to face and asked for arbitration.

At a guess, the initiative came from the West Ham side when Magnusson lost the Chairmanship there.

West Ham have a major stadium investment they need to get under way and having partners factor in a worst case outcome on a law suit for £30m losses is a significant inconvenience even if you own your own bank as the new West Ham chairman does.

More likely they have been ticking up a huge bill for somebody. Did you know Gunner that it's 99% of all lawyers that give the rest such a bad name?

[philipl]

The Tevez aftermath has become a touch more public and messy again. This is in the Guardian this morning:

"West Ham United are alleged to have struck deals over the future of their former striker Carlos Tevez last season behind the back of the Premier League. Kia Joorabchian, Tevez's agent, is taking the club to court claiming £7.1m which he says he is owed by West Ham for his role in Tevez's stay at Upton Park and subsequent move to Manchester United.

In papers lodged with the High Court Joorabchian alleges he paid the club £2m for West Ham to release Tevez's registration for the transfer to Old Trafford and that West Ham agreed orally to return the money, plus costs, amounting to £2.6m. He says he has not been paid that money or a further £4.5m for separate dealings over Tevez. The league had insisted West Ham be paid when Tevez moved to United. West Ham have said they will mount a "vigorous" defence of their position and deny Joorabchian's allegations."

It is difficult to see how this one can be settled out of Court and the construct created to enable the Premier League to maintain its position be continued. If Sheff U were not sweating on slipping closer to a second successive relegation, they'd be quite happy this morning.

The £2m transfer fee from Man U to West Ham being paid by Joorabchian- that should be easy to prove and really pulls the pants down on the whole thing if it transpires to be true. The EPL position hinges on that being the legitimisation of the transfer from West Ham to Man U without third party influence etc.

Now the Eggman has been very publicly bundled off the West Ham watch which he handled astonishingly well in relation to the Tevez mess the Icelanders bought into, I wonder how good the money man will be at making water flow uphill in the convoluted world of football politics. The way the table currently looks, every club from 12th to 19th (Spurs to Fulham) has a what's in it for me if the West Ham disciplinary hearing were to be reopened again- not that this is on the agenda just at the moment.

[thenodrog]

Get this!

Listening to the phone in on 5Live last night lots of disgruntled WHU fans were phoning in calling for Curbishleys head on a platter. One cockney bloke incredibly claimed that WHU "deserved" to be in the top 6 of the Prem!

1. 3 FA cup wins in their entire history, 1 Charity Shield and one now defunct Cup Winners Cup! No league title ever and personally I cannot rem em ever finishing higher than 7th (btw relegated the year after).

2. By everything that is right, decent, honest and honourable they should be a division lower!

[Cocker]

Get this!

Listening to the phone in on 5Live last night lots of disgruntled WHU fans were phoning in calling for Curbishleys head on a platter.

What a bunch of tools. Curbishley is doing an excellent job down there in my opinion. He has had quite a few of his starting 11 out on a regular basis too (not that other people haven't too) They play Man U and Liverpool in a week and the fans are not happy they don't win - fools.

If you ever meet a west ham fan though they really do think they are as good as Man U and Arsenal